Well, we can't really pick a clear winner among the five smartphones we're testing today since all of them are pretty good at capturing 1080p video. Still, if we really had to choose, we'd go with the Samsung Galaxy Note II or Galaxy S III since they both capture video that is full to the brim with fine details. The iPhone 5 and Nokia Lumia 920 capture excellent 1080p footage as well, but the former introduces quite a lot of digital noise when the lights get dim, while the latter boosts colors' intensity, thus making them look less natural. As for the Sony Xperia Z, we're left wishing its video was as detailed as that of the competition.

We must mention that the Sony Xperia Z offers the so-called HDR video recording mode, which should theoretically boost the footage's dynamics range. And as our video samples show, HDR video taken at night is brighter than the non-HDR video. However, the additional digital noise introduced by the HDR mode is quite annoying, so we'd advise you to use the perk with caution, depending on whether the situation requires it.

I feel threatened by the amount of bias in this "comparison", i wonder how much Samsung and Apple payed PhoneArena? Why is the Note 2 even here? I mean its results are almost the same as the S3, only with more noise, just use a diferent phone in the comparison no point in using 2 phones that have almost the same camera.

True. even though i'm hard core fan of IOS and Android i still admit that again and again no phone including IPhone 5, Xperia Z, upcoming galaxy S4,Lumia 920, galaxy camera etc.... beat Nokia 808 Pure View camera yet. if you don't believe that just watch 1080p of 808 pure view on your pc/mac in full HD. I try out the 808 camera still the best.

Your correct. Bias not even mentioned Nokia has the only one with OIS and others use only digital image stabilization as well nokia Lumia has aperture of 2.0 which is widest among the rest. Did not even include HTC one. This article is one sided. Clearly it is between Iphone Lumia and HTC one and Samsung comes on top. How come?

agred- that's the main problem I found with my S3- screen brightness. It's there for things like photos. But for emails, reading etc it's quite subdued.

But as we're talkgin about cameras, the Z is very good. Not as consistently good as the iphone 5, or nokia 920 (in low light) but I prefer the photos from the Z to those I used to take on the S3 (and for indoor shots I prefer the Z easily over the Note 2).

Woah... something has gone really wrong with PA lately... 920 is night photography champ, S3 and Note 2 can not be beaten in day time photography, macro and details in video, and Z has best night time video...
1-S3
2-Note 2
3-920
4-Z
5-is**t

Another anti-samsung person. What is wrong with you? The Galaxy Note 2 is arguably in the top 3 smartphones right now and you call it sh*t?
As dedicated android user (Nexus 7 and 4), I would still never call the iPhone crap. You're just anti-samsung, and I have no idea why.

Samdogs are may be in the top 3 smartphones,but we are talking here about camera.Koreans know only adding core & adding ram. They need to born one more time to make good camera phone. So go get a life.

dude.. you can read tons of reviews on the internet.. no single reviewer ever said that the s3 or note 2 camera sucks.. they even always praise that those phones has one of the the best 8mp camera.. i knew that your ip5 camera is slightly better.. but doesn't mean the samsung's suck.. grow up boy..

I think you should read the above news once again and see the ranking.. They are better in camera than 920 and Z.. Iphone 5 us ahead only by a hair. Read the news again and again until you get the point.

I can tell by how childishly your post is written that you only want attention. There's no way that Samsungs flagship devices are s**t, and the iPhone is crap. The top devices on all the charts are made by Samsung and apple, do some research dude, cuz your knowledge is sorely lacking.

But plastic does not look or feel premium... And it is not about camera that I prefer calling Samsung as s**t, but about the feel of it. It almost feels like your holding a super slim phone from 2006 or 2007...
The quality of these phones are rubbish. In fact, in terms of build quality, I do not like Sony either. But at least it feels premium...

Just hold your horses people: Once again PA seem to have overlooked that pesky focal length. Check out the amount that all the devices crop with the zoom tool. Notice a difference?

Because of the focal length of the Galaxy devices, as well as the lower MP count, the zoom crop is focusing in far shallower than it does on the XZ. Don't take my word for it, measure it yourself - it's right there.

I'm not saying that the XZ isn't a little softer BUT if you zoom all devices to the SAME crop, the Galaxy and iPhone images would PIXELATE, looking equally bad.

I'm not saying that this is intentional from PA but it certainly skews the results. The XZ images are looking softer because they're zoomed in further.

225.AnukulVcool (unregistered)

My iPhone 5 camera far exceeds my Note 1, or previously owned SGS2 and SGSSR. My friends SGS3 is not any better then an iPhone camera. Nokia's Lumia and Sony's are very niece and many times better than iPhone 5.

coz its d latest :D
when it comes to hardware, thats a fact coz XZ used whats latest.. but camera, with that 13mp, dey must learn how to optimize their lens well.. i wouldnt say PA is right that s3 and note2 are better in camera..
when it comes to features, note2 is still no1 and only galaxy s4 and note3 can beat it unless the upcoming Sony's 6incher w/ stylus can render us more exciting capabilities.. In screen, for oversaturated and more vivid colors w/ wow factor, SuperAmoled will rock but whites arent perfect (hoping a perfect display for the s4 and note3), so if u want brighter display with good whites and good contrast then HTC's display or LG is the top choices whc are better than Bravia...
XZ will somewhat steal d show w/ water and dustproof , elegant design(but not ergonomic, battery nonremovable) and their playstation compatibility(still can use playstation w/o XZ)

Dude, not lumia please.. Have you personally checked it? Don't be biased but ip5 and galaxy's camera are far better than lumias. Dark shots are not that great either on lumia compared to ip5..I dunno why people say lumia has good camera.. It's just a fake hype..

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